Wednesday

Feb 7, 2018 at 12:12 AM

Notes, quotes and observations after the Cavs blew a 21-point second-quarter lead and lost 116-98 to the Orlando Magic Tuesday night at Amway Center.

1. The Cavs played nearly three quarters without coach Tyronn Lue, who went to the locker room with trainer Steve Spiro with 8:02 left in the second quarter with an undisclosed illness and did not return.

2. Associate head coach Larry Drew, who took over for Lue just as he did when Lue fell ill 30 minutes before a Dec. 21 home game against the Chicago Bulls, said he had no inkling Lue was ill before tipoff.

3. “He seemed fine before the game. We were sitting back there talking, talking about a game plan, game strategy, and he’s in good spirits,” Drew said. “It seemed like it just happened all of a sudden.”

4. Drew said the coaching staff checked on Lue at halftime and he was starting to feel a little bit better.

5. As for what happened on the bench, Drew said, “I really don’t know. I just know that he said he wasn’t feeling well and that he was going to go to the back for a second and that he was going to be back.”

6. Drew said he didn’t know if he will be coaching the Cavs on Wednesday night, when they host the Minnesota Timberwolves for an 8 p.m. game.

7. LeBron James didn’t sound like the loss of Lue is the reason the Cavs saw an 18-point third-quarter lead turn into a one-point deficit in a span of 5:50 in the third quarter.

8. “We’ve got to keep pushing. It’s almost like losing a player. Unfortunately, he’s sick. That’s the only thing that we heard,” James said. “Wish him the best, but that’s what you’ve got assistants for, you’ve got assistant head coaches to pick up in his absence. He’s definitely the captain of our ship, so it’s definitely a tough blow for us. But we have to have an opportunity to step up. We played some good ball for a short amount of time, but couldn’t sustain it while he was absent.”

9. Dwyane Wade didn’t use Lue’s illness as an excuse for the third quarter disaster, when the Magic’s Jonathon Simmons scored 22 of his game-high 34 points.

10. “I feel like for us it didn’t have an effect on the third quarter. It was unfortunate. We want him to be on the sideline. But as players it’s your fault,” Wade said. “It’s your fault what’s going on in that quarter. The coach can help you sometimes when they call plays or call timeouts or different things like that. But we’ve got veteran guys on this team. We’ve got to manage the game better, whether our coach is over there or not. We’ve got enough experience over here to manage the game better and not give up a 20-point lead in the snap of a finger.”

11. In the third quarter, the Cavs gave up 41 points, two shy of the most scored by a Cavs opponent (Oklahoma City) this season. The Magic shot 70 percent from the field in the quarter, hit 3 of 4 from long range, and outrebounded the Cavs 14-5. Simmons made 7 of 8 field goals.

12. “It’s just a culmination of our season pretty much,” James said of the loss. “We’ve had big leads this year, we’ve lost them for whatever reason. They came out with a lot of sense of urgency. They drove our closeouts, hit some big-time shots in the third quarter and Simmons was really good in the third, obviously. Just couldn’t stop it once the snowball turned into an avalanche in the third. A 41-point quarter is hard to come back from.”

13. If there was any hope of that, the Magic’s 16-0 run after the game was tied at 92 ended any chance. The Cavs scored 31 points in the second half; Simmons totaled 29. James went without a rebound or assist and lost four turnovers in the second half, when his plus/minus was minus-32.

14. In the fourth quarter, the Cavs scored nine points, a season-low. Their previous worst was 13 in the second period against the New York Knicks on Nov. 13, a game they came back and won by three.

15. But these Cavs aren’t the November-December Cavs that won 18 out of 19 against a much weaker schedule.

16. “Right now we don’t have that joy that we need,” Dwyane Wade said. “It’s easy for our soul to get snatched from us when teams start making shots. It’s basketball and we’ve got to figure that out. It’s embarrassing, it’s frustrating, it’s all those things.

17. “This is one of the first times I’ve experienced something like this in my 15 years and I’ve won 15 games before (with the 2007-08 Miami Heat). But with a team this talented, with a team of veterans like this, you don’t expect not saying lose games… but the way you’re losing games is kind of mind-boggling.”

18. Wade suggested that Cavs who are not getting the job done should take themselves out of the game.

19. “It’s not the coach’s fault, it’s the players, we’ve got to own it. All of us,” Wade said. “When we get opportunities, we’ve all got to do our job. If we’re not doing our job, we’ve got to ask to come out and let someone else come in and do the job.”

20. Isaiah Thomas said one of the issues is the Cavs cannot handle adversity. Thomas went scoreless in the second half, which never happened in 204 regular-season and post-season games with the Celtics, according to ESPN Stats & Information.

21. “As players, we got to be better. When they start to go on their runs as teams are going to do each and every game, we got to come together. And it’s like right now, when we hit adversity, we go our separate ways,” Thomas said. “That’s just how I feel and it looks like that as well. Guys start to go one-on-one on offense and the defense is every man for himself. The first half we played good, everybody was happy. It was energized, helping each other on the defensive end. Sharing the ball. The ball was moving side to side on offense. And then we revert back to what makes us lose games.”

22. Thomas is well aware of the volatile nature of his answers, but stepped into the fray again.

23. “When I address something it’s like I’m blaming somebody,” he said. “So, I just try to lead by example and do my job. Which, obviously, I got to play better. But something needs to be addressed. I mean, we continue to play like this, we’re going to continue to lose.”

24. But seconds later, in a question about him losing his way in the flow of the offense late in the game, Thomas couldn’t help himself and took a shot at the coaching staff.

25. “We got to do better. We got to adjust throughout the game,” he said. “They made adjustments and it worked and we just kept getting hit with the same thing and we made no adjustments.

26. “And that’s been one of our biggest problems all year, is adjusting. Teams are not just going to allow us to continue to score and continue to do things at a high level. They’re going to make adjustments and we have to do the same thing, too, and we’re not that good at that right now.”

27. Drew said the Cavs played well for 11/2 quarters and felt the game change late in the second quarter. The Cavs saw their 21-point lead trimmed to 16 at the end of the period, but James pointed out he had two of his six turnovers in that span. The Cavs hit just 3 of 11 shots to close out the quarter. Three of the misses were by Jae Crowder, two by Thomas, one by J.R. Smith and one by James.

28. “I thought defensively the things that we were doing in the first quarter we had some breakdowns in that second quarter, and then it carried over right into the third quarter,” Drew said. “I believe they scored 40 points in that third quarter, so they continuously just broke us down off the dribble. We couldn’t keep the ball in front of us. Any time the defense breaks down like that, bad things happen. … They just drove it down our throats.”

29. As for Simmons, Drew said, “He made shots. When he wanted to drive it, he drove it. He got to the free-throw line. We did not have an answer for him tonight.”

30. After Washington lost to Philadelphia, the Cavs (30-22) remained in third place in the Eastern Conference, but both the Cavs and Wizards are 71/2 games back of the Celtics.

31. But with the trade deadline looming at 3 p.m. Thursday, some Cavs may wonder if they have what they need to snap out of their 6-13 slide since Christmas.

32. “Just got to keep pushing. Just stay positive,” James said. “I am staying positive and just trying to figure out ways we can be better. What units work well for us on the floor, how we can be more productive, how someone can pick someone up when they’re struggling.

33. “It’s been tough because we’ve had a few guys who’ve been struggling of late. You want to try to pick them up and not lose your own individual ability to help the team. It’s no time to throw shade about our season. We’ve got to continue to be positive and continue to push forward. We’ve got quite a few games left. If we’re still serious about this season, we have to play some good ball at some point.”

34. As he tries to be part of the solution, James said he will not waive his no-trade clause, even though some potential trade partners have investigated that possibility.

35. “No. Naw, I’m here for the long haul. I’m here for this season right now, try to figure out ways we can still compete,” he said. “I couldn’t give up on my teammates like that. I couldn’t do that. I just couldn’t do it. We put too much into the game every single day; we go out and prepare.

36. “Win, lose or draw at the end of the day we’re all brothers and we understand that. I owe it to my teammates to finish this season out, no matter how it ends up. I would never waive my no-trade clause.”

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